1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control method for controlling an inner temperature in a refrigerator/freeze combination and a cook-chill system for performing the same, and more particularly to a control method and a cook-chill system of a refrigerator/freezer combination which can refrigerate rapidly a stored foodstuff by controlling a supply of a chilled air about a cook-chill chamber of a refrigerator/freezer combination in order to preserve a taste of a cooked foodstuff.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a refrigerator/freezer combination is an apparatus for refrigerating and storing foodstuffs at a relatively low temperature and comprises a freezer compartment and refrigerator compartment. Recently, in the technical field of refrigerators, many refrigerator products which are easy to use and have a variety of improvements, for example, many refrigerators which can improve the refrigerating efficiency by increasing in number of coolers in the refrigerator chamber or which can reduce the refrigerator's power consumption, are widely used.
Particularly, in the refrigerator, many methods have been suggested in order to maximize a freezing or a refrigerating efficiency and to minimize a refrigerator's power consumption.
For example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,332, when the door of the refrigerating chamber opens and closes, a method for increasing refrigerating efficiency by lowering an elevated inner temperature of the refrigerating chamber by introducing air from outside, is disclosed.
In this refrigerator, opening and shutting times of the door of the refrigerating chamber are checked. Then, the compressor and the fan are controlled in order to supply chilled air by measuring the opening and shutting time difference. Also, the inner temperature of the refrigerating chamber is reset to a lower temperature than an early setting temperature by the opening and shutting time difference. When the reset temperature is set, the compressor and the fan are driven until the inner temperature of the refrigerating chamber reaches the reset temperature so that the elevated inner temperature of the refrigerating chamber is lowered.
However, when considering the various needs of a consumer, it is necessary to improve a refrigerating efficiency of the refrigerator as well as to have the above functions. In addition, when refrigerating cooked foodstuffs, a refrigerator which can keep fresh cooked foodstuffs for a long period of time is needed in order to satisfy a consumer's need.
When just cooked foodstuffs are stored immediately in the refrigerator chamber, because of the emitting of heat from the cooked foodstuffs, an inner temperature of the refrigerating chamber rises, thereby resulting in a wasting of power and in a reduced efficacy in keeping foodstuffs fresh. Placing the hot foodstuffs in the refrigerator chamber after cooling the foodstuffs outside the refrigerator or in the freezer chamber in order to avoid a power loss and a harmful effect in freshness, is inconvenient and cannot naturally preserve the taste of the cooked foodstuffs.
Incidentally, it is known that the fresh state of cooked foodstuffs can be maintained for a long time and that the taste of cooked foodstuffs stored in the refrigerator can be naturally preserved when the cooked foodstuffs is rapidly cooled. However, there are still no example of a refrigerator which applies these principles.